


A Kind of a Family

by ambivertedintrovert



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: also i've added violet and fethry into the mix because i'm pretty sure they'll be there someday, basically gyro's view on the establishment of team science, team science
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:28:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28733463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambivertedintrovert/pseuds/ambivertedintrovert
Summary: Gyro never thought he needed help in the lab. And initially, he doesn't like having people around. But people change. And his workstation grows into a busy workplace.Gyro finds out that maybe, this is his kind of a family.
Relationships: B.O.Y.D. (Disney: DuckTales) & Gyro Gearloose, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera & Gyro Gearloose & Lil' Bulb & Manny the Headless Man-Horse, Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera & Huey Duck, Gyro Gearloose & Violet Sabrewing, Huey Duck & Gyro Gearloose
Comments: 9
Kudos: 46





	A Kind of a Family

Gyro was convinced Mr. McDuck was crazy when he asked (more like ordered) him to allow a manhorse, a  _ manhorse _ of all things, to ruin his lab's aesthetic. Because of  _ course _ Gyro would need extra help to finish work he could do in his sleep.

"Ach, lad, everyone needs help sometimes. And your lab needs a lot of cleaning anyway," Scrooge had said gleefully. Donald and the boys' return had obviously done something to his grouchy old head.

(He remembered Della, the annoying twin who’d sit on his desk, pointing at  _ his _ schematics and insulting  _ his _ work, saying that they were boys. She also said that she’d show them the stars, but her stupid head was blocking the light while he was trying to finish a blueprint so he didn’t really care. 

The same blueprint would be covered in self-accusatory tears a week later.)

But now that Gyro noted it, his lab did seem pretty much of a mess. So with great reluctance (and a whole lot of sarcasm that Mr. McDuck didn't seem to care about), he agreed.

He had expected the manhorse to talk in morse code, so Gyro fixed up a translator before (unsuccessfully) trying to finish a machine he had dubbed 'Lil Bulb'. But what he  _ hadn't _ expected was the manhorse- or Manny, because manhorses had names too- to be a literal life guru.

'The lack of a head teaches you a lot of things,' Manny had tapped his hooves on the ground, and Gyro wanted to scoff in his face.

Surprisingly, he didn't. 

(Manny was wise as he was strong, and Gyro would respect the dignity of his first colleague any day. He owed a lot to Manny, not that he would ever admit it.)

* * *

Three days later, the head (and only) scientist blew a fuse when Manny suggested more help in the lab. Gyro's statements of 'of course I can do this alone' wasn't very convincing with the bundles of unfinished work on the table, after all.

Throwing a mop at Manny like an upset three-year-old, Gyro went back to his desk to complete his work. And slowly, but surely, the work -and the entire jar of coffee- was completed.

L'il Bulb was created the next day.

(Gyro became the inventor of Bulb Tech, and the proud father of an extremely unstable not-evil bulb. Soon, the entire Bin would be attacked by it due to an unstable circuit, but Gyro would blame it on the green triplet.)

The new addition to the lab was quite intriguing, all the same. Li'l Bulb had a personality, and had to be improved upon, so it was nothing Gyro couldn't handle. Besides, the inventor clearly doted on the bulb.

But that night, seeing the new set of paperwork on his desk, Gyro reconsidered Manny's suggestion. Maybe an intern would do the trick.

* * *

_ Note to self, never listen to the manhorse again.  _ Fenton had been chosen as the new intern, and Gyro had only accepted him because he was the least worst of the lot (or because he saw the naive teenager who was excited to work for  _ the _ Dr. Akita in the young man's eyes).

"Look here, kid. You're here for two reasons- one, to finish the paperwork, and two, to help Manny. Ground rules- one, don't interrupt me, two, don't come near me, three, stay in your corner unless asked to come out. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir! Or do I call you Dr. Gearloose, or Dr. Gyro? I assure you I will do my best, sir. It's just that I will be working in  _ the _ Gyro Gearloose's lab and this is only my second internship, but I've asked Manny about your schedule so-" Fenton's rambling went on for a good thirty seconds, much to the head scientist's dismay.

Gyro sighed and ran a hand over his face.  _ Disgusting _ . Cutting the intern short, he spoke quickly. "I'm Dr. Gearloose and you're an intern, okay? Have a great day! Manny, get the intern out of here."

And so, the abandoned bathroom in the corner of the lab became Fenton's workstation, and even  _ that _ didn't waver his excitement. Now that Gyro noted it, the intern was probably one of the most optimistic saps he had ever met.

At least the paperwork was getting done at triple the usual speed.

This gave time for Gyro to work on his latest project, 'Project Blatherskite'. It was a far-fetched project, one that needed a lot of concentration and re-evaluation, but Gyro had a feeling this would be one of his most successful projects.

And well, it did end up successful, and it was the annoying intern's doing. No-one else would be stupid enough to wear a mechanical suit still under processing, and use the name ' _ Gizmoduck' _ . ( _ What kind of a name was that? _ ) Soon, everyone knew the name Gizmoduck, and Gyro wanted to hit his head against the wall.

(Later on, Gyro would actually be proud of Fenton for taking up such a big responsibility. Superheroing was no joke, and as much as Gyro hated fixing up the Gizmosuit every so often, Dr. Crackshell-Cabrera was risking his life over and over again. As stupidly selfless Gyro felt Fenton was being, it brought a new surface to humanity.

Because that had been his  _ intern _ , the same idiot who was now one of his most trusted co-workers.)

* * *

Gizmoduck brought with him the red nephew. The two of them stuck together, the boy looking up to Fenton like he was the only role model in the world.

Gyro remembered having to teach Li'l Bulb that the green nephew and and red nephew were different. Apparently, Li'l Bulb could mistake Huey for green nephew and would go crazy. (One day, Li'l Bulb would gain some emotional maturity and stop attacking both of them.)

"Hey, Fenton?"

"Yeah, Huey?" the intern said as he glanced at Huey while fixing a cupboard.

"You know, Dew and Louie are like the best younger brothers, but I think it's great I also have someone as the best older brother too."

Gyro actually found himself smiling at the exchange, and subconsciously patted L'il Bulb who was at his side.

"Aww that's nice Huey, who's your older brother?" Fenton asked genuinely. Huey's face fell, and Gyro wanted to smack his intern on the head.

"The kid's talking about you, idiot," he told Fenton a little harshly.

But the harshness went unnoticed, and Fenton's expression immediately morphed into that of surprise. He grabbed Huey into a hug, laughing with tears of joy, and Huey soon joined him.

Gyro was leaving this sapfest right  _ now _ .

(But it was then he started noticing that the red nephew was pretty smart too. One day, a part of him would started wondering if Huey would want to join the science team officially and not just as Fenton's tag-along.

The boy would be overjoyed.)

* * *

And then Tokyolk happened. There was suddenly 2B-  _ Boyd _ in the mix, and Gyro was honestly a little scared for the kid. He knew the glitches would likely not happen again, but he'd have to find some proper solution.

"Dr. Gyro?"

"Yes, Boyd?"

"Could I visit you sometime again? You're honestly pretty cool."

A small smile made its way onto Gyro's face. "Of course. And I'll be calling you to the lab soon anyway, I need to run a few tests on you."

"Like a doctor's appointment?"

"...you can say that."

The thing was, Boyd was nearly human, in every sense of the term. And that word  _ 'nearly' _ put him apart from the rest. And in some way, even though Gyro and Huey weren't part-robot, they both could relate.

It became a mentally signed pact between them to protect the definitely-real-boy. Huey shifted near Gyro and whispered something to him. Gyro nodded firmly.

"Boyd?"

"Yes, Dr. Gyro?"

"Do you want to join the science team? You can ask Huey for the details."

(A few weeks later, Gyro would be asked by Mr. and Mrs. Drake to be Boyd's version of a family doctor. After all, the usual family doctor couldn't treat the boy.

Gyro would accept the offer, of course. Because deep down, he was glad that odd bots like Boyd and Li'l Bulb were being treated like normal people in their families.

And that was all that mattered.)

* * *

Just as Gyro finally thought his lab had settled down after all the new people, a tiny hummingbird would enter the picture, pushed in by the red nephew.

"C'mon Violet you'll love this place!"

"Hubert I can't believe-"

"Oh no no  _ no _ ." Gyro interrupted Violet at once, "this lab finally has the perfect aesthetic so  _ leave _ ."

"I was going to anyway," the hummingbird huffed, turning around to exit the lab.

It took a while for the shock to settle in. On that particular day, Dr. Gearloose was left wondering whether he'd  _ really _ just been scoffed at by a twelve-year-old.

And so, three weeks later, Violet Apollonia Sabrewing would earn her way into the science team, and Hubert Duck would be absolutely dejected he hadn't been allowed to help her prepare.

Gyro was the one who recommended her after all. And when the head scientist himself recruits you, you know you're a favourite.

Especially when he allows you to be snarky.

"If you're going to call me hummingbird," Violet said, "then I will call you chicken."

"Show some respect for authority, kid."

"Dr. Chicken."

(Violet would earn a chance to become an intern a lot faster than anyone else had. She wouldn't accept it though, because there was a wide road ahead, and well, Gyro understands.

They would be in tears though, and Violet would latch onto her mentor in a hug. She'd be saying 'thank you' repeatedly, her voice breaking at points. And when Gyro would finally hug the hummingbird back, saying 'I don't do hugs but whatever,' he would cover up his tears by fondly ruffling her hair and telling her to keep the certificate for the internship.

"Hummingbird?"

"Yes Dr. Chicken?"

"Keep that to remember us, okay? No matter which field you want to enter."

The hummingbird would shoot him a teary smile, a rare expression for her, and Gyro would pull her into another hug.

After all, he'd shown enough emotion already for the day, what harm could once more do?)

* * *

There would be some additions to the team, later on, and one of them would be Fethry. (Fethry loved fish as much as Della hated them, and he wasn’t really in touch with reality. But Gyro could see he had a great heart and a whole lot of determination, along with being pretty smart, so it worked out pretty well.)

And as Gyro glanced around the busy lab at everyone, holding out a finger to acknowledge Li'l Bulb seated on his hat, he figured he loved his lab and everyone in it now.

Maybe, he figured, this was  _ his _ kind of a family.

**Author's Note:**

> (find me @your-local-semi-nerd on tumblr)


End file.
